Can a Local Trade Skip Instagram and Facebook?

On October 4, 2026, the owner of a just-started furniture and millwork business posted to r/smallbusiness. They had a website and were handing out fliers, but were holding off on Instagram and Facebook, mostly because they find the apps addictive. The question: "Do you think people will appreciate not having to enter those platforms to engage with my business, or am I just shooting myself in the foot?" The replies split, and both sides had a point. Here is the honest answer for a local trade, including the case where Instagram does earn its place.

The short answer: the feed is optional, Google Business Profile is not

The clearest reply in the thread drew the line in the right place: "you're fine skipping instagram for a local design/build/repair business, but don't skip google business profile. that's where people searching "furniture repair near me" actually find you, and it's the one platform that's basically search, not a feed"

That distinction is the whole answer for most trades. A social feed is something you have to keep feeding so people who follow you see you. A Google Business Profile shows up when someone is already searching for the work you do, in the area you cover. Skipping the feed costs you an audience. Skipping the profile costs you the people who were already looking.

If you have not set the profile up yet, our page on whether to start with a Google Business Profile or a website covers the week-one order.

What to set up on the profile instead of a feed

A millwork shop, a renovator or a repair business that goes to the customer is what Google calls a service-area business: one that visits or delivers to customers directly but does not serve customers at its own address. Google's help page says that if you do not serve customers at your business address, you should remove the address from the profile and set a service area instead. You can list up to 20 service areas by city, postal code or other area.

Add photos of your own finished work. Google's help page says uploaded photos and videos show on your profile with the newest media appearing first, so a photo of last week's job is what a searcher sees before your older shots.

The profile also takes posts. Google describes them as a way to share announcements, offers, updates and event details with customers on Search and Maps. One detail matters for a business that will not post often: Google says posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set. A profile with one post from the spring and nothing since reads the same way a quiet Instagram account does.

When Instagram does earn its keep

The strongest counter-argument in the thread came from someone who said they hate Meta and still keep Instagram: "you absolutely need an insta account in this industry." The reason they gave was specific to furniture and millwork: "all the businesses that cross promote and cross polinate with yours (like architects, contractors, interior designers, etc) are all on Instagram too".

That is the real test. For a lot of trades the customer is a homeowner who searches Google or asks a neighbour. For custom millwork, a good share of work can come through designers, architects and contractors, and if those people look for makers and vet them on Instagram, being absent there means being absent from the place your referrals come from. Another reply said their business has 50,000 followers and "most of my sales comes from instagram". They did not say what they sell, but it shows the channel can carry a whole business when the buyers are there.

The same reply that said you need it also said you do not have to live in the app: "Then just post and close the app, making sure to only check up on replies/messages once a day or so." If your referral partners are on Instagram, a plain account with photos of finished work, checked once a day, meets them where they look without the scrolling the owner wanted to avoid.

One more honest point from the thread: "every day that goes by it gets harder to add new followers." If you are fairly sure you will need Instagram later, an account that has quietly posted a finished job every week or two will be in better shape than one started from zero the week you need it.

The job a feed was really doing: proof of life

One reply named something most of the others missed: "I personally do a quick visit to social media to see if they've posted in the last few months - easy way to see if someone is still in business."

That customer is not looking for entertainment. They are checking whether the business is still open and still working before they call. Another reply made the same point a different way: "people are probably going to look you up before they decide to contact you." And the same person who checks for recent posts suggested thinking of it "more as a portfolio of work rather than "content.""

If you skip the feeds, that proof-of-life check still needs somewhere to land. The two places a customer will look are your Google Business Profile and your own website. Both should show recent, dated work: a new photo on the profile after a finished job, and a recent-work section on your site with the type of job, the town and the month. We covered the same idea for new businesses without reviews in how a new business builds trust before it has reviews: dated photos of your own jobs are evidence a careful customer can check.

Make the fliers point at the right work

The owner's own update showed why fliers alone are a slow channel: "One person contacted me from a flier and she needed pants hemmed lollll". A flier that says "repair" without a picture invites any kind of repair.

One reply had a practical suggestion: put "one before/after photo of a furniture job on the flier and it repels the pants people while attracting the right ones". Add the address of the recent-work page on your site, so someone holding the flier can see what you have made lately. If you ask for reviews, Google's help page says you can send customers a Google link or have them scan a QR code, so a short link or code on a leave-behind card works too.

A simple way to decide

You can skip posting to Instagram and Facebook if most of your work comes from homeowners who search or ask around, your Google Business Profile is set up with a service area and current photos, and your own website shows recent, dated jobs.

Keep or open an Instagram account if the people who send you work, such as designers, architects or general contractors, look for makers there, or if the customers in your niche shop for your kind of work by browsing photos.

Either way, the owner's own plan from the thread is a reasonable one: "I guess I can start without and always add it later if this isn't working." Track where each real inquiry came from for a few months. If the answers keep pointing at Instagram, that is your signal to add it.

How Living Websites fits in

A Living Website is a site on your own domain that you own, which keeps adding useful pages about your trade and area on its own schedule. That steady stream of new, dated pages is the kind of activity a customer looks for when they check whether a business is still going, and it lives on your site, not inside an app. A form submission is forwarded to your own inbox and the person who asked gets an acknowledgement email.

Your job photos and your Google Business Profile still come from you, because they are your work and your listing. The site gives them a home that stays current. See how it works for the full detail.